Cristina Zogmaister

On the automatic evaluation of social exemplars

The present article focuses on the automatic evaluation of exemplars whose category membership has been learned in the past. Studies 1 and 2 confirmed the hypothesis that once an exemplar has been encoded as a member of a given group, at a later encounter the evaluation associated with the group will be unintentionally retrieved from memory, even when no perceptual cue indicates the exemplars category membership. Study 3 extended the results to the domain of in-group/out-group differentiation. In addition. Studies 4 and 5 confirmed the hypothesis that stored evaluations can be retrieved and affect responses even when the semantic information on which the evaluations were originally based is no longer available for retrieval. Finally, Study 6 investigated spontaneous approach-avoidance behavior tendencies. Overall, results demonstrate the pervasive effects of person-based representations, and they are discussed in terms of recent models of person perception and out-group discrimination.

Implicit Ingroup Metafavoritism: Subtle Preference for Ingroup Members Displaying Ingroup Bias:

The current article investigated how individuals evaluate ingroup members displaying either ingroup bias or egalitarian intergroup behaviors. The hypotheses predicted that on explicit responses a preference for the egalitarian ingroup member would emerge; in contrast, on more spontaneous and uncontrolled responses, a preference for the ingroup favoritist would result. Across four studies these hypotheses were confirmed for both minimal groups (Studies 1 and 2) and ethnic groups (Studies 3 and 4). Despite a verbal preference for those who behaved in an egalitarian way, an implicit ingroup metafavoritism was found. Overall, results indicated the presence of dual attitudes in the perception of ingroup members and the strict interconnection between intergroup behaviors and intragroup perception.

The Impact of Loyalty and Equality on Implicit Ingroup Favoritism

Extending recent investigations into the malleability of implicit ingroup favoritism, three experiments examined the role of indirect activation of equality and loyalty. Results showed that priming equality decreased implicit favoritism, measured through the Implicit Association Test and Go/No-Go Association Task, whereas priming loyalty enhanced it; spontaneous behavior (seating distance) was similarly influenced. A boundary condition was observed, namely change of intergroup setting: the effects of priming equality and loyalty ceased when these were primed after an irrelevant ingroup identity was made salient. In general, implicit favoritism can be reduced or increased after the activation of equality and loyalty respectively, and this underlines the importance of tackling discrimination by both lessening its expression, and removing factors that exacerbate it.

When “They” becomes “We”: Multiple contrasting identities in mixed status groups

The present research investigated the development of multiple in-group identities among minority group members within a higher status majority. Explicit and implicit identification with the in-group (Southern Italy), out-group (Northern Italy), and a superordinate category (Italy) was examined in 29 Southern Italian students living in Northern Italy. On average, participants strongly identified with the in-group, and those who had spent more time in the north simultaneously displayed increased implicit identification with the out-group. As predicted, incorporation of the out-group into the self occurred only in participants who were not already strongly identified with the superordinate category. Implications for intergroup relations and well being of minority group members are discussed.

On the factorial structure of self-esteem as measured by the Italian translation of the Self-Liking/Self-Competence Scale - Revised (SLCS-R)

PSICOLOGIA SOCIALE n. 3, settembre-dicembre 2013 In two studies, we investigate the factorial structure of the Italian translation of the Self-Liking/ Self-Competence Scale – Revised (i.e., SLCS-R; Tafarodi & Swann, 2001), which was developed in order to measure two distinct dimensions of selfesteem: self-competence and self-liking. More specifically, in Study 1 we provide evidence that the two sub-scales actually address different aspects of self-esteem. In Study 2, with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) we show that a model including the dimensions of self-esteem (competence and liking) as different traits, and positive versus negative wording of items as different methods, provide a superior fit to the data as compared to both a unidimensional model of self-esteem and to a bidimensional model not including the wording factor. Entering the word self-esteem on Google-Image you would find a popular picture portraying a little cat in front of a mirror, in which it can see its reflected image. Surprisingly, in the reflected image there is not a little cat, but a beautiful lion with a thick mane. The picture is matched with the sentence: «What matters most is how you see yourself» and this statement reflects the common popular definition of self-esteem, namely the evaluation of the way in which one sees oneself. However, are we sure that we have only a unique image about ourselves? The present work is mainly aimed at investigating the factorial structure of the Italian translation of one of the most widespread scales used in order to measure self-esteem, namely the Self-Liking/Self-Competence Scale – Revised (SLCS-R; Tafarodi & Swann, 2001), and thus in the end our purpose is to give an important contribution to the validation of the scale in the Italian context.

La misurazione di costrutti impliciti attraverso l'Implicit Association Test

Uno degli orientamenti piu rilevanti nella psicologia sociale dell’ultimo decennio e costituito indubbiamente dal crescente sviluppo ed utilizzo di strumenti impliciti di misura. Questo fenomeno nasce dall’esigenza fondamentale, che caratterizza una parte significativa della ricerca sociale, di far fronte a due problemi che spesso si presentano nell’uso delle tradizionali tecniche d’indagine, basate prevalentemente sulle interviste e sui questionari. In primo luogo, studiando tematiche «sensibili», si pone la questione della desiderabilita delle risposte e delle conseguenti distorsioni in cio che le persone affermano esplicitamente; in secondo luogo, esistono limiti nella capacita introspettiva del rispondente, i quali fanno si che anche il rispondente ben intenzionato a collaborare con il ricercatore spesso non riesca a fornire un resoconto dettagliato e veritiero dei contenuti cognitivi d’interesse. Per quanto concerne la prima questione, attraverso le risposte ai tradizionali strumenti cartacei, le persone possono gestire in modo strategico il tipo di immagine di se che vogliono proporre (Crosby, Bromley e Saxe, 1980; Maass, Castelli e Arcuri, 2000). Questo lavoro rappresenta una revisione critica dell’Implicit Association Test (IAT), a sette anni dalla prima presentazione di questo strumento (Greenwald, McGhee e Schwartz, 1998). Nel corso della trattazione, lo IAT viene proposto nell’ambito degli strumenti di misurazione di associazioni implicite e ne vengono delineati i piu importanti vantaggi e le caratteristiche psicometriche. Vengono descritte le principali spiegazioni formulate in letteratura relativamente ai meccanismi di funzionamento di questo strumento e alla natura delle associazioni cognitive che esso permette di indagare. Uno spazio speciale viene dedicato alle indicazioni di variabilita contestuale negli indici IAT e viene discusso il significato assunto da tale variabilita. Particolare attenzione viene dedicata, infine, alle possibilita e ai limiti di utilizzo dello IAT nella psicologia sociale applicata.

Perché i giovani bevono? Versione italiana del DMQ-R (Cooper, 1994), strumento per l’indagine della motivazione al consumo di alcoolici

Viene presentato l’adattamento italiano della misura quadri-fattoriale della motivazione a bere alcoolici (DMQ-R) proposta da Cooper (1994), sulla base del modello concettuale di Cox e Klinger (1988). Usando i dati di due campioni di adolescenti (N = 282) e giovani universitari (N = 238) e la tecnica dell’analisi fattoriale confermativa, viene fornita sostanziale conferma al modello quadri-fattoriale. Successive analisi mettono in relazione le motivazioni sottostanti alla fruizione di alcoolici con specifici aspetti di tale fruizione (frequenza di uso e di abuso di alcoolici, consumo di tipo solitario o sociale), evidenziando l’utilita della scala e fornendo sostegno al modello teorico sottostante.